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Conferences ready for early look at 2008 Football Season
With the start of the 2008 football season about six weeks away, three of the four black college athletic conferences get things started by holding their annual football Kickoff Luncheons and Media Days next week.
And all four conferences have plenty to report.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference gets things started Tuesday, July 22 with its annual SWAC Media Day and Kickoff Luncheon in Birmingham.
The day starts with head coaches and selected players from the league's ten teams
available for one-on-one interviews beginning at 9 a.m. at the
Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Each coach will also
talk about their prospects for the coming season
after lunch is served at the nearby Jefferson
Convention Complex at 11 a.m.
The SWAC has three new head coaches debuting this season, all with local ties to
their new positions. Former Alcorn State player
and Cincinnati assistant Ernest Jones is the
new head man at his alma mater replacing Johnny
Thomas. Fifteen-year NFL veteran and Arkansas product
Monte Coleman takes over at Arkansas-Pine
Bluff from Mo Forte. At Texas
Southern, former Lane head coach and
former TSU quarterback Johnny Cole is expected
to ratchet up the Tiger offense as he replaces
Steve Wilson. Southern Head Coach
Pete Richardson is the dean of SWAC coaches
entering his 16th season leading the Jaguars.
Jackson State under second-year head coach
Rick Comegy defeated new Grambling State
head coach Rod Broadway's squad in last
year's SWAC Championship Game.
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
is next up, holding its annual Football Media Luncheon on Thursday, July 24 at
the Jones Dining Hall on the campus of Virginia State
University in Ettrick, Va. beginning at 11 a.m.
Head
coaches from the CIAA's now 11 football-playing
teams will breakdown their chances in 2008. Joining the conference this year as a
football-playing member of the Western Division is
Chowan College of Murfreesboro, N. C. New Chowan Head Coach
Tim Place will join his coaching colleagues in analyzing the
2008 season.
The only coaching change in the CIAA is at Virginia Union, where former defensive coordinator Greg Richardson moves up after the resignation of Arrington Jones. Shaw, under head coach Darrell Asberry, won last year's CIAA Championship Game over Jones's VUU squad.
The Mid Eastern Athletic Conference
wraps up preview week with its Football Press Luncheon Friday, July 25 at the Norfolk
(Va.) Waterside Hotel. Standout players from each
of the conference's ten football teams start
one-on-one interviews at 9:30 a.m. and will be joined
by the coaches at 10:30 a.m. The luncheon will follow at
approximately 11:30.
The MEAC witnessed perhaps the biggest coaching
move of the post season when 16-year Hampton
head coach Joe Taylor departed to become head
man at Florida A&M replacing Rubin
Carter. Former Hampton defensive coordinator
Jerry Holmes has replaced Taylor as head coach of the Pirates.
Head Coach Al Lavan guided Delaware State to last year's MEAC title and NCAA FCS playoff berth.
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference decided last week not to hold its
preseason event. Among 
the biggest changes in the SIAC is former
Florida A&M head coach and MEAC Hall of Famer
Billy Joe taking over at Miles from
Wade Streeter. Trent Boykin has taken over for Dearrion Snead who originally replaced Johnny Cole at Lane. Tuskegee is the defending SIAC champion.
© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.